Academics suffering mental health problems blame their university work directly for their illness, exclusive findings from a Guardian survey reveal.

Heavy
workloads, lack of support and isolation are the key factors
contributing to mental illness, according to respondents, who range from
PhD students to vice-chancellors.

The
Guardian survey, which specifically targeted academics suffering mental
health problems, found that two-thirds of more than 2,500 who responded
see their illness as a direct result of their university job.

Senior lecturers and those aged between 55-64 years feel most strongly about this connection.

Over
half of academics, from the UK and overseas, say a heavy workload is
having an impact on their mental health. A lack of support is also a key
issue affecting 44% of respondents, which is felt across all ages from
25-64 years.

Just under half of respondents say they feel
isolated, and others raise concerns around a "bullying culture", job
insecurity and a culture of long working hours. A pressure to publish is
felt by more than a third of 25-34 year olds.

The Guardian survey raises fresh concerns over the mental health of university staff - and their working conditions.

The area is little-researched, and this groundbreaking study helps shed more light on mental illness among academics.

Other studies have focused more on stress and wellbeing among university staff, including one by the University and College Union (UCU) in 2013,
which revealed that university staff are more stressed than the average
British worker and that the problem has got worse in recent years.

The Guardian survey also uncovered a divide between different ages and types of UK institution.

Unreasonable demands by management

Feelings
of isolation are particularly high among PhD students (64%) and those
aged between 18-34 years, whereas senior lecturers and those over 45
years believe that unreasonable demands made by management are a key
contributing factor to their state of mental health.

This is more
true in post-1992 universities, where staff are more than twice as
likely as those in Russell Group universities to say their mental health
has suffered due to high demands from management.

Well over half
(62%) of academics working in post-1992 universities feel they have
heavier workloads than those in Russell Group universities, and many
point to "student demands" as an issue. Those at Russell Group
universities feel more pressure to publish.

"As 21st century
academics, the expectations on us are, in effect, impossible," says
Rosie Miles, senior lecturer in English at the University of
Wolverhampton.

"It is simply not possible at any one time to research
effectively, teach well, deal with endless administrative demands, put
in major grant bids, be permanently available to students, mark (often
lots of) work and have some kind of sensible, balanced work-life ratio".

"Something has to give, and sometimes what can give is an academic's sense of her or his own worth and value."

Sally
Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, says: "Many academics and
academic-related staff are clearly under far too much pressure and we
know this level of stress in the workplace can be very damaging to
mental and physical health."

Hunt adds: "With funding cuts,
increased workloads and rising expectations from students and parents
paying much more for their education, the situation is likely to become
even worse."

A small scale study in 2008
by Universities UK looking into the mental health provision for
students and staff at UK universities found that demand for mental
health support services in higher education had increased significantly
since 2003.

Although there are both in-house and external support
services available for staff at many universities, are institutions
doing enough to support their staff?

The majority of staff who
access the counselling service at Cardiff University come for
work-related issues, says Tina Abbott, staff counselling manager at
Cardiff University. "These are far-ranging, from work overload to
difficult relationships with colleagues or managers, and living with
uncertainty and rapid change."

Universities should take findings seriously

Ruth
Caleb, head of counselling at Brunel University, says she has seen an
increase in the number of staff seeking support for mental health issues
- partly because, she says, the university is publicising its services
better.

Universities should take these findings very seriously,
says Caleb. "These figures outline the way things are going in some
universities which are causing people more than a normal level of stress
- and if staff are not happy, it has a direct impact on students.

"Part
of the issue is universities have changed a lot and the goalposts keep
changing," Caleb adds. "People are left with the rug pulled from under
their feet - their sense of safety has been wobbled by changes that have
been made without their consultation, and there is no control over
that."

The survey also uncovered gender differences: more men
(59%) than women (45%) say they did not experience mental health
problems until they entered academia.

While 68% of respondents who are
professors and senior lecturers didn't experience problems before
beginning their working lives in universities, PhD students and
researchers are more likely to have had previous mental health problems.

PhD
student Ben Rich at Monash University in Australia, who has himself
suffered from depression, says the stresses of contemporary academic
life can "exacerbate underlying mental health issues like depression".

"There
is a sort of dissonance that develops in academia," says Rich, "whereby
those with the traits best suited to delve deeply into the topics they
cover are also the most sensitive to the paradoxes in the system that
prevent them from achieving their desired ends."

Over half of
academics say their mental health problems have held back their careers -
with 45- to 54-year-olds feeling particularly affected. And nearly all
say it has an impact on their family and social life.

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Dr Robert Muller is an experienced, and well-published author, teacher and researcher who has been teaching and conducting research in Sociology, Criminology, Politics and Public Health in the university sector since 1993. In addition, Robert has been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) since 1984 in a range of different cultures, including Turkey, Italy, England, and Australia.